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EDITORS’ NOTES

Don't be put off by sad-voiced crooner Dan Bejar's stage name: the only thing this enigmatically evocative Canadian songwriter is guaranteed to destroy is your preconceptions. The erstwhile New Pornographer's 11th album makes a sharp right turn following Kaputt's '80s-jazz soft-pop. His dramatic fusion of rich, string-driven balladry ("The River," "Girl in a Sling") and the saxophone-fueled rock fury of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band ("Times Square," "Midnight Meet the Rain") transform New York bohemian despair into glorious rock epiphanies.

EDITORS’ NOTES

Don't be put off by sad-voiced crooner Dan Bejar's stage name: the only thing this enigmatically evocative Canadian songwriter is guaranteed to destroy is your preconceptions. The erstwhile New Pornographer's 11th album makes a sharp right turn following Kaputt's '80s-jazz soft-pop. His dramatic fusion of rich, string-driven balladry ("The River," "Girl in a Sling") and the saxophone-fueled rock fury of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band ("Times Square," "Midnight Meet the Rain") transform New York bohemian despair into glorious rock epiphanies.

TITLE

TIME

Times Square, Poison Season I

2:33

Dream Lover

3:48

Forces from Above

5:51

Hell

3:17

The River

3:35

Girl in a Sling

3:04

Times Square

4:11

Archer on the Beach

4:56

Midnight Meet the Rain

3:24

Solace's Bride

3:43

Bangkok

5:14

Sun in the Sky

5:33

Times Square, Poison Season II

3:02

13 Songs, 52 Minutes

Released: Aug 28, 2015

℗ 2015 Merge Records

Ratings and Reviews

4.7 out of 5

38 Ratings

38 Ratings

Shalomcapone
07/22/2017

Here because of logic

I did not who destroyer was before an interview I watched where logic mentioned that this album was one of his favorites. It is now one of my favorites. Amazing

Shalomcapone
07/22/2017

Here because of logic

I did not who destroyer was before an interview I watched where logic mentioned that this album was one of his favorites. It is now one of my favorites. Amazing

SteampunkToothfairy
03/31/2017

My favorite band

I was upset to see that the only review on this (wonderful) album was negative, so I just wanted to show a little love to such an amazing band. Destroyer is my fave :)

SteampunkToothfairy
03/31/2017

My favorite band

I was upset to see that the only review on this (wonderful) album was negative, so I just wanted to show a little love to such an amazing band. Destroyer is my fave :)

Poetry airport music
09/01/2015

Used to Love this music, but was it always a Bowie ripoff?

I don't think so.Don't particularly want to listen to old albums but this is overproduced bowie jazzy spacey throaty hodgepodge.Better than most.Still derivative and far from as good as original source/thing.STRIKE such a good song.ALors.

Poetry airport music
09/01/2015

Used to Love this music, but was it always a Bowie ripoff?

I don't think so.Don't particularly want to listen to old albums but this is overproduced bowie jazzy spacey throaty hodgepodge.Better than most.Still derivative and far from as good as original source/thing.STRIKE such a good song.ALors.

About Destroyer

Dan Bejar started Destroyer as a solo project in Vancouver in 1995. His first album, We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge, was an electric folk record, setting the stage for the early Bowie comparisons that were certain to follow his particular vocal style. In 1998, Bejar added a rhythm section and took it into the studio for the first time. The resulting recording, City of Daughters, was a sparsely produced collection of catchy pop songs in which Bejar's increasingly obtuse lyrics really started to stand out. Thief, again recorded in Vancouver, was released in 2000, but by then the lineup had expanded into a quintet. The sparse production and the Bowie comparisons remained, but Bejar's cryptic lyrics and unique voice gave this rant against the music industry an original quality that stood out from many of that year's releases. In the meantime, Bejar, along with Carl Newman of Zumpano, was one of the songwriters responsible for the much-acclaimed New Pornographers debut, Mass Romantic (Mint Records), released that same year.

In 2001, Destroyer's fourth album, Streethawk: A Seduction, picked up right where Thief left off. His next release, 2002's This Night, was an oblique and melodic album that portrayed Bejar as a ranting, depressed singer. It marked his first record for Merge. Arguably his quirkiest material yet was captured on 2004's Your Blues. Bejar collaborated with touring partners Frog Eyes on 2005's Notorious Lightning and Other Works, a six-track EP containing re-recorded versions of material from Your Blues with Frog Eyes as the backing band. He also contributed three songs to the New Pornographers' critically acclaimed Top 50 album Twin Cinema and spent the better part of that year on tour with the Canadian supergroup. February 2006 saw the release of Destroyer's Rubies, a return to the guitar-based sound of This Night with a touch of Streethawk-era drama.

After devoting some more time to the New Pornographers, Swan Lake, and a collaboration with visual artist Sydney Vermont called Hello, Blue Roses, Bejar returned to the sanctuary of his solo project and released his eighth record, Trouble in Dreams, in March of 2008. The following year saw Swan Lake's second outing, Enemy Mine, as well as the ambient Bay of Pigs EP (Destroyer). He contributed three tracks to the New Pornographers' fifth studio album, 2010's Together, before releasing 2011's Kaputt, his ninth LP under the Destroyer moniker and first to appear on the Billboard 200.

In 2013, Bejar issued the Five Spanish Songs EP, which featured material written by Spanish musician Antonio Luque of the band Sr. Chinarro. The following summer brought the well-received sixth New Pornographers record, Brill Bruisers, which included three Bejar-penned tunes. A second Hello, Blue Roses album appeared in February 2015 (WZO), and Destroyer's strings- and horns-imbued, New York-themed epic, Poison Season, followed that summer. It returned the project to the Billboard 200.

In the spring of 2017, the New Pornographers released their first LP without Bejar (Whiteout Conditions). Appropriating the original title of Suede's song "The Wild Ones," Destroyer emerged that fall with Ken. ~ Terrance Miles